Leaders in Equity Update - Oct. 6, 2022

Posted Date: 10/16/2022

October 6, 2022 To view email in web browser, click here.   .POLICY CORNER   Ed Dept releases anticipated CARES late liquidation guidance K-12 Dive The CARES Act obligation deadline is Sept. 30, and 96% of the funds have been spent as of this week, according to the Education Department's letter. Beyond today, states and districts have another 120 days to spend — or liquidate — those funds. On top of that, the Education Department is allowing another 14 months for spending, meaning the actual draw down of CARES dollars could stretch to March 2024.   READ MORE   Opinion: Enrichment programs can only do so much to end systemic education injustices The Hechinger Report For most of my career, I've worked toward creating access for children who have historically been excluded from high-caliber educational experiences in education and technology. I believe that if we can open up access to these experiences, it will serve as a vital step toward resolving the inherent educational inequities in our society.   READ MORE    PRODUCT SHOWCASE   Learn the 7 Ways to Achieve a Success Mindset Creating and maintaining a success mindset can help educators combat stress and negative emotion and discover greater levels of happiness and accomplishment—in their personal and professional lives. Learn seven ways educators can work to achieve a success mindset. Download now.   LEARN MORE   .SCHOOL LEADERS NEWS   How administrators can help ensure teachers' success Edutopia For the past two and a half years, educators have had far too many barriers in the way of their being able to access and execute their why. If we want to change this situation and revitalize our educators and educational system, we have to change our approach. This is quite possibly the perfect example of "The system is perfectly designed to get the results it is getting; if we want to get different results, we must do something different."   READ MORE   Off-the-shelf or custom-made? Why some districts are designing their own curriculum Education Week Alongside the lesson planning, grading, and behavior management that are part of teachers' day-to-day, most also face another big responsibility: Curriculum design. Over 90% of teachers make or seek out their own materials — a situation that's time-consuming for educators and can be inequitable for students.   READ MORE   PRODUCT SHOWCASE   Sky's the Limit with SkyCorp How many times have you been told the impossible isn't possible? That new ground can't be broken? At SkyCorp, the sky is the limit. Every idea you dream up, we want to help you accomplish. Meet with our team today and book into one of our SkySessions.     LEARN MORE     Protecting Schools with Germicidal Lighting UVC has been proven to inactivate 99.9% of pathogens in the air and on surfaces, including Coronavirus.    Ideal for any indoor application, SilentAire LED light fixtures offer ambient, energy-saving LED illumination while actively disinfecting the air in a room. Go beyond back to normal: Be better protected, and better prepared, than ever before.     LEARN MORE     5 ways to elevate the effective teaching happening in your school Edutopia When I started teaching in the '90s, I was a bit like Tom Hanks in Castaway. I lived on my little island. I created my lessons independently. Sometimes those lessons were good, and other times not so much. How many learning opportunities were missed in my development as an educator?   READ MORE   Should schools group students by ability? Thomas B. Fordham Institute One of the most contentious debates in American education focuses on whether to group students into classrooms using some measure of prior achievement. Whole class grouping by prior achievement or content mastery is most common for math instruction, less common for English and reading, and least common for other subjects; it appears to be more common in middle schools (48%) than in elementary schools (24%).   READ MORE   .TECHNOLOGY   3 ways school leaders and edtech partners can close learning gaps together District Administration This new school year marks another inflection point in education. While district leaders are already addressing staffing shortages, they remain under increased pressure to close learning gaps exacerbated by the pandemic. The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress report revealed the largest decline in student reading scores in 30 years and the first-ever decline measured in math scores.   READ MORE   6 classroom tech tools that helps educators' mental health eSchool News Many teachers are embracing the return to a standard classroom setting. Naturally, some are worried about how much stress will come with trying to get students settled into in-person classes again.   READ MORE   Numbers don't lie: Is it time for schools to require computer science? District Administration Computer science has gained some serious traction since the pandemic. Advocates argue that education in the field produces outstanding academics. In July, hundreds of innovators in the tech industry, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, signed a joint message addressed to governors and education leaders across the U.S.   READ MORE   3 ways technology can support student access to grade-level content EdReports I was an early adopter of technology in the classroom because I saw technology as a way to support students with a variety of learning needs. My personal mission to meet the needs of all students started early in my life. I grew up with two adopted brothers who faced developmental delays due to fetal alcohol syndrome.   READ MORE   .EDUCATION HEADLINES   United for bilingual education Language Magazine As we move further into the millennium, many national and local educational systems are considering how best to meet the changing needs and demands they face, especially in developing countries.   READ MORE   Exposure to accents helps children learn words Phys.org If elementary school children are accustomed to many regional and foreign accents because they hear them frequently in their linguistic environment, then it is easier for them to learn new words from other children who speak with unfamiliar accents.   READ MORE   The nation needs more bilingual, dual language teachers The Century Foundation As a current middle school English learner (EL) specialist, I have experienced firsthand the absence of student and teacher resources needed to produce an equitable, rigorous learning environment for English learners. Schools historically fail at serving English learners adequately, whether through not having enough qualified teachers, lack of funding, or vague or limited federal and state guidelines for how schools should be educating them.   READ MORE   Try these 3 strategies with multilingual learners Medium Do you have students in your class who speak more than one language, and/or a different language at home? If you're a K-12 teacher in the U.S., chances are you do, and chances are you're struggling to meet their needs.   READ MORE   .CAREERS   New Postings Every Week on ALAS Website! ALAS 09/01/22 — Managing Director of Schools, Equitas Academy, Los Angeles, CA. 09/16/22 — Drake University, School of Education, Education Leadership Faculty Job Posting, Des Moines, Iowa 09/20/22 — Scarsdale Public Schools, Superintendent, Scarsdale, New York 10/05/22 — Nyack Union Free School District, Superintendent, Rockland County, New York 10/05/22 — South Orange and Maplewood School District, Multiple Positions, New Jersey 10/21/22 — Denver Public Schools, Executive Director of Total Rewards, Denver, CO. 11/01/22 — Faculty Search: Leadership in the PK-12 Education Ecosystem, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA 11/11/22 — Partner, School Design Services: Computer Science Focus, Transcend Education 11/11/22 — Partner, Sparks Facilitator, Transcend Education 12/12/22 — Superintende